Automatically-closing fire-shutter.



APPLICATION FILED F'EB.28,1907.

Patented June 29, 1909.

ii! 111. $1 m UNITED SATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT RUSH, OF COLUMBUS, OHIO, ASSIUNOR TO THE klNNliAlt MANUFACTURING COM- PANY, OF COLUMBUS, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF \YES'I VIRGINIA.

AUTOMATICALLY-CLOSING FIRE-SHUTTER.

T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT RUSH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Columbus, in the county of Franklin and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Automatically-Olosing Fire-Shutters, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates more particularly to that class of fire resisting shutters or curtains which are normally held upand released to close an opening upon the occurrence of fire. I

Rolling fire resisting shutters or curtains as now commonlyconstructed are of iron and are heavy, hence when automatically released to close the opening for which they are provided are likely to descend with violence. Further, after they have descended they are ditlicult to push up by hand, thus making ready escape from or access to the building ditlicult and sometimes impracticable.

The object of this invention, therefore, is to provide an automati any operating shut:-

ter or curtain that in itself shall be so far ctninterbalanced as to be depressible without violence, and which, when closed, can be easily pushed up to permit egress from or access to the interior of the building.

The invention resides in the construction and combination of parts hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawing forming part hereof and illustrating one embodiment of the invention l igure 1 is a front exterior elevation showing the roller, a fraction of the curtain, and other parts insection, the position of the parts, as indicated in full lines, being that when the curtain is wound up; Fig. 2 is an elevation, with parts broken out, looking at the right hand side of what is shown in Fig.1.

In the Views 1 and l designate the usual end brackets for supporting the roller.

2 is a shaft made stationary, as by pinning at. 2 in the left hand bracket '1.

8 designates the drum or sheet inetal'cyt.

inder of the roller that is secured by pins to large collars 4 and at perforated centrally to turn on the stationary shaft 2. The shutter or curtain 16, as shown, is attached to the drum and runs in guides 17 in the usual way, or in any suitable manner in the opening it is designed to close. Attached at one Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 28, 1907.

Patented June 29, 1909.

Serial No. 359,718.

end to a small collar 5 fixed on the shaft 2, and at the other end to the collar l, is a coil spring 5 the tension of which-is gradually increased by the unrolliug of the curtain from the drum. The spring preferably should be of such length and'power that it will operate to nearly or exactly counterbalance the weight of the unrolled portion of the curtain whatever that unrollcd portion may be, or so that the curtain will remain at any point to which it is'nnrolled, or at most not automatically rewind. The right hand end of the roller contains a stud shaft 6 secured by pinning as at 6 to the collar 6 and the sheet metal cylinder. The said shaft (5 is supported to rotate (but it is normally latched from rotation) in the right hand end bracket 1, and said shaft protrudes somewhat beyond the outer side of the bracket to receive other parts to be now described.

Secured on the stud shaft (5 beyond the right hand end bracket; is a wheel 7 having teeth 7 one of which, when the curtain is wound up to the desired extent, is engaged by a lever S pivoted at 8 on the outer sides of the bracket 1, said lower being provided. with a suitable lug or lugs S? to engage the tooth T, or so as to prevent the unrolling of the curtain. To hold thelever 8 engaged with the wheel 7 a latch 9 pivoted at 9 to cars on the bracket. is provided, said latch being lield in lever-engaging position by means of a wire 10 stretched between a fixed point It) and the latch. The wire 10 is made up of sections united by a material 11 solder for exalnple---fusiblc or disintegrable by a dangerous rise of temperature. Upon such a rise of temperature due to proximate tire, therefore, the solder will soften and release the sections of the wire 10, the latch t), and the lever 8, all as depicted by broken lines, Fig. 1, thus leaving the stud shaft 6 and the drum or cylinder free to turn. The latch 9 falls by gravity out of position to interfere with the dropping of the lever 8.

Secured on the stud shaft. ti beyond the wheel 7 is a grooved pulley or sheave 12, to the rim of which is attached one end of a flexible cord 12;. The lower or free end of the cord 13 is furnished with a stop or button 13 that supports a weight 14- when the curtain is raised. The weight 14 is made with a central passage 14:tl1rough which the cord is passed and in which the cordcan.

move.

is a weight-arresting device made in the form of a bracket bolted to the wall of the building vertically below the weight and in position to catch the weight before the curtain is completely unwound. The arresting device 15 is provided with a passage 15 for the free end of the cord when the weight is arrested. The weight 14 is designed to overcome the equilibrium of the curtain and spring, and to supplement the weight of the curtain and thus start it downward and give it momentum upon the release of the latch 9. It being undesirable, as before stated, that the curtain end its downward movement with violence, the weight is arrested before the curtain is completely down, the momentum of the curtain induced by the weight being suflicient to complete the downward movement without violence. The exact proper location of the arresting de vice is determinable by several factors among which are the size of the curtain, the size of the weight, andthe friction between the curtain and its guiding grooves, all of which are matters of judgment in each particular case. When the weight is arrested the cord continues to move through the passage therein provided for it until the curtain is unwound. And when I the curtain is re- ;wound the stop 18 takes up the weight again. This arrangement of cord and weight prevents tangling. It will be observed, therefore, that in the event of nearby fire my shutters or curtains are-automatically lowered, and occupants of the buildin can easily push up the curtain sufiicient y at least to effect their egress, or firemen can do likewise to gain access to the building.

WVhat I claim and desire to secure by Let.- ters Patent is:

1. The combination with a spring roller having a shaft connected to turn with the tain the shutter or curtain in wound-up conroller, a shutter or curtain to wind on said roller and substantially counterbalanced by the spring thereof, latching devices to redition on said roller, fusible means whereby said devices are released by a dangerous rise of temperature, a sheave connected with the shaft of said roller, a weight provided with a cord to run on said sheave, said weight to supplement the weight of the curtain in unwinding from the roller andsaid weight tending to normally act on said shaft to unwind the curtain when in wound-up condition, and said weight to be released upon the release of the curtain, and an arresting bracket to relieve the curtain of the supplementing weight shortly prior to the complete descent of the curtain.

2. The combination with a substantially counterbalanced shutter or curtain, latching devices for retaining the same in elevated position, means whereby said devices are released by a dangerous rise of temperature, a separate weight supplementingthe weight of the curtain in elevated position and adapted to be released upon the release of the curtain, said weight provided with an opening, a cord for suspending said weight, said cord movable through the opening of said weight, and an arresting bracket to relieve the curtain of the supplementing weight prior to its complete descent.

3. The combination with a rolling shutter roller having a shaft at one end to rotate with the roller, of means for latching said shaft and the roller from rotation, means operative by a dangerous rise of temperature to release said latching means and the curtain or shutter, a sheave or pulley on said shaft, a cord on said pulley, a weight on said cord to supplement the weight of the curtain when unrolled, and an arresting device to receive said weight prior 'to the complete uurolling of the curtain.

ALBERT RUSH. lVitnesses:

CHAS. BRASIIEAR, BENJAMIN FINCKEL.

-or curtain and a spring-actuated roller on Wluch the shutter or curtain is rolled, sand 

